Chapter 26 - The Golden Wolves Are Born

Victor was very lucky that I found the last bit of his rambling to be too hysterical to allow myself to act on any previous thoughts, because I had just been considering how to eat something in the spirit world. "So, don't have sex in the spirit world unless you are ready for a litter of wolf pups. Got it." I said as I began laughing looking at Jacen. Neither of us had even approached the topic yet, but we could both easily see the other wanted it as bad as we did. I almost think that we've both silently decided to wait until this whole fiasco with the treaty between my family and the vampires is resolved. However, Victor's comment almost lit a fire between Jacen and I, just thinking about the implications. I'm still not sure exactly how Jacen feels about having kids, but the thought had all my goods blazing like a bonfire in the middle of the woods. I focus on the rest of what was said to try and avoid bursts into flames from my own thoughts. Victor just stares, watching as we come to a conclusion, both of us avoiding his last statement. "Are you sure that this is what you want? I will try, but I need to know before we do this that it's what you want, not just a convenient way around the current situation. We can figure something else out if need be, but I'd rather do that than risk this if it's not something you absolutely want." I said while staring deep into those ocean blue eyes. He began to reply, "It is what I want, Bethany. I just hadn't found a reason to convince you to do it before now. I know that there are risks, and I know that you would never want to risk my life, but I need to be capable of protecting you, not just be able to take a hit on your behalf. If I'm ever going to be able to do anything more, then something inside me needs to change. Not to mention, we have no idea if my kind can effectively reproduce with yours, but if you change me, we won't have to worry about that in the future." "Wait, you are doing this so we can have kids? You are willing to risk exploding so that we don't have to worry about whether or not your species can get mine pregnant? Wait, you want to have a baby? With me?" I ask frantic and breathless from adrenaline and shock. "Well, yeah. Not right now, but in the future, absolutely." Jacen doesn't even have time to finish saying that last word before I am pulling him into a deep, passionate kiss. He might be bigger and a man, but my species is stronger, I hold him tight enough that you would think he'd explode, but he's far more durable. As I began pulling at his clothing, Victor cleared his throat loudly, reminding us of his unfortunate witness to our current situation. We flew apart like magnets repelling one another. Despite our flushed faces and swollen lips, you never would have known what had just occurred. "Right, we... should get this done. Does anyone have anything to use to cut my hand or something?" I said flustered and at a loss for words, my voice weak from the passion and intensity of the kiss. Victor spoke up, "Well, I didn't pack anything, do you think you could do it with your claw when you shift?" I thought for a moment before saying, "Yeah, it shouldn't be to terribly difficult." I shift, using my claws to carefully slice the skin of my own hand open. With the cut made, I turned towards Jacen, who was approaching me almost as if he's waited his entire life for this exact moment. He took my clawed hand in his, drinking deeply from the blood that pooled there in my palm. He stepped back, his veins beginning to glow as the transformation began. He let out what seemed to be a loud scream of pain, but I thought back to what Jacen told me about foxes and the many different sounds they made. This was, "their," scream, a warning of danger before death when facing a larger preditor. Jacen began to shift back and forth between a golden fox and a powerful black wolf, his body twisting and contorting into odd shapes. His main glowing gold with streaks of black that swirled and moved like living tendrils snaking through his body. Gold steam that glowed faintly in the night air began to rise from his body and the scream transformed becoming the triumphant howl of a wolf. Jacen rose to a full twelve feet tall, with pitch black fur and Ice blue eyes before breathing in deeply, sucking in the radiant golden haze that sat like a mystical fog around him. As he breathed it in, his midnight main began to shimmer with golden light fading from black to the brilliant gold of his previous form. His muscles bulged, and his now golden main gained an almost metallic sheen as he grew another foot, standing at 13 feet tall, he was a picture of the absolute pinnacle of power and radiated the aura of a true alfa wolf. The sight was spectacular to say the very least. Jacen shifted back, approaching me seemingly exhausted from the ordeal, yet physically more imposing. His human form had grown a bit taller, just a couple of inches, and his muscles bulged with a bit more definition than before. "Bethany, I somehow absorbed the essence of the fox after the wolf purged it from my system. I think it managed to evolve my wolf in some way. When the wolf purged the fox from my system I felt my connection to the sun disappear and it was replaced with a new connection, one to the moon. But after breathing in the essence of the fox, that connection seems to have broadened to encompass it all, I know that while we are in our spirit form we can shift at will, but I think that I will be able to do the same now in the physical world. Bethany, I think this is the answer you were looking for. If you can shift at will, that means you can also avoid the forced transformations during the full moon. You could live the rest of your life normally if you wanted, or shift whenever you want to."